


Be Mine

by whitedandelions



Category: To Whatever - Shaenon Garrity
Genre: During Canon, M/M, Whatever's POV, Yuletide Treat, alternate POV
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-20
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-09-23 06:58:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17075558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitedandelions/pseuds/whitedandelions
Summary: He’s not even offended about the address, for all Ethan knows, he is a whatever, and in some way, it’s comforting to be addressed in that way.  It doesn’t start with monster, and the threats are thinly veiled, and hilarious if he’s being honest, and he feels like he should make it up to Ethan.





	Be Mine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [winterhill](https://archiveofourown.org/users/winterhill/gifts).



> thanks for being a pinch-hitter! happy yuletide :D

The first time he receives a letter, he stares for a long while.  

He’s not even offended about the address, for all Ethan knows, he _is_ a whatever, and in some way, it’s comforting to be addressed in that way.  It doesn’t start with monster, and the threats are thinly veiled, and hilarious if he’s being honest, and he feels like he should make it up to Ethan.  He didn’t know that Ethan liked the half & half that much; if he did, he wouldn’t have used up the whole carton.

Ethan won’t be home for another four hours, which gives him enough time to procure a carton from the Elder City.  The cashier there doesn’t even blink when he asks for them to make it just like the humans do, and not just because the cashier probably doesn’t even need to blink.  He’s asked for weirder stuff, after all, and later that afternoon, when he’s placing the carton back, he feels proud of himself.

* * *

The next letter makes him smile.  He hadn’t expected to, but here he is, standing in Ethan’s living room over his dining table, with the letter in his hands and he’s _smiling_.  Well, if Ethan said he could use the refrigerator, then he _will_.

He goes home, and when he comes back to Ethan’s, he brings his tools for cooking (spiked whisk and a circular spatula) and cuts some apples to put in the crisper.

* * *

 

Ethan betrays him the next day.  He would be angry, but he’s used to this from humans. And well, they’re more amusing than they are scary, and even if they find him, he can always go back to the Elder City, even if it won’t be as entertaining as staying there. 

Then he gets the next letter, and he feels relief.  Ethan hadn’t meant to betray him, even with the pointed dig about his smell, and he can’t feel the same shame as humans do.  So he puts the letter down, and goes to use the family-sized bottles of shampoos and conditioners Ethan had so thoughtfully provided for him.

* * *

He wakes to Ethan doing something in the living room.  He peers out from where he is, hidden in the shadows, and Ethan studiously does not look up from what he’s doing.  He’s so _small_ at least compared to him, and he watches in awe as Ethan moves the loveseat from where it’s been since he moved in.

He wonders why, but it isn’t as if he could ask, so he goes back to sleep.

* * *

 

The letter surprises him.  An invitation to watch the Golden Globes? 

It’s so dangerous, he knows it could be the end of _everything_ , but he doesn’t think Ethan will betray him again.  Besides, the first time was an accident, and Ethan’s kind.  Ethan doesn’t mind the increasingly odd stuff he puts inside the fridge, after all, and he’s being promised apples and milk and beers, so he doesn’t think he’s being too dumb to accept.

* * *

They settle into a routine after that.  Ethan leaves him letters of what they’re watching, and he takes extra care to use liberal amounts of shampoo and conditioner before Ethan gets home.  He at least likes to think it helps, and it seems like it does judging by the way Ethan’s nose no longer wrinkles whenever they’re together. 

He brings the Elder City’s version of alcohol for Ethan, and only hesitates for a second before leaving it on the table beside the beer.  He likes Ethan for a mortal, and the alcohol consumption will give Ethan a way into the Elder City.  It’ll keep him safe if he ever finds himself there, and he watches in delight at night when Ethan takes a long swig from the bottles, and then another.

* * *

At first, he doesn’t understand who the interloper is.  Ethan’s never brought over company, and this one is the worst of the worst.  He’s like every other human, but somehow even _worse_ , and even though he knows it might make Ethan mad, he sends the human to the five-dimensional city.

He feels glee as he watches the man – Willem – run from the cats, and he doesn’t do anything to help, even when they nip at his feet.

He gets a letter the next day, with Ethan chiding him, and can’t even find it in himself to feel ashamed.

* * *

 

It’s getting worse.  He doesn’t understand why he hates Willem so much – and he gets so irrationally angry when Ethan doesn’t come home for dinner.  He shouldn’t be angry, Ethan not coming home for dinner means he has the run of the place, but all he can think about is that Ethan is not home. 

It’s probably immature, but he goes home to the Elder City.  What’s the point of being an all-powerful creature if he couldn’t bend the powers a little bit?  What’s the point of having the City under his control as their King to not have a little fun with mortals?

He knows Ethan might be mad, but he goes ahead and does it anyway.  He sends Willem back to the five-dimensional city and laughs gleefully as the human gets lost and doesn’t even mind when his servant looks at him with curiosity.

* * *

 

Ethan’s mad.  But he’s even more so.  If Ethan knew that Willem was screaming, that meant Ethan hadn’t come home because he was with the other human.

But Ethan asked for groceries and well, it isn’t as if he could deny the other man anything, so he goes back into the Elder City to pick them up.  If the Key of Tssil gets lost in the utensils, well, it isn’t as if he’s hoping it’ll somehow transport Ethan there, that isn’t his intention at all.

* * *

 

It gets worse.  Sometimes Ethan doesn’t come home for days.

He’s _lonely_ , and spending time in the Elder City does absolutely nothing for him.  He wants Ethan.   He knows he can pop over to 4C if he so wanted to, but he doesn’t want to see Willem.  He only wants Ethan.

He’s had a lot of time to think with Ethan’s absence.  And it’s with no surprise he finds that he might like the human a little more than he should.

He wonders if Ethan will be angry if he takes Ethan back home to the Elder City.  He won’t waste away with time, like he would here, and he thinks Ethan will like it there.  Ethan’s so kind, and he’s so welcoming that the inhabitants of Elder City will adore him.

Ethan would make a wonderful Queen, he thinks, even though he shouldn’t be thinking things like this, especially since there’s no way Ethan would agree to it.

He’s just devising a way to figure out how to make this happen when he feels himself fading.

* * *

 

He wakes to Ethan’s face.  It’s a welcome sight, but also surprising, because they’ve never really looked at each other face to face.  He knows Ethan knows what he looks like – the pointed remarks sprinkled in his letters are enough to let him know that and he knows what Ethan looks like (obviously).  But it’s so different to be looking at each other like _this_ , and he wants to say something, but then Ethan is tugging him up and out of a broken cage.

Ethan has a manic look in his eyes, something he’s never seen before, and then Ethan is pulling him away and out of a wrecked apartment.

* * *

 

His subjects helped Ethan rescue him.  The Key of Tssil was more helpful than he had ever imagined, not only identifying Ethan as someone to be obeyed, but also giving him the ability to even enter the Elder City.

He wants to thank Ethan.  He buys half and half, as much as he can carry, and places it in the fridge.  After, he finds the letter, and wonders if he can be brave, just this once.

* * *

 

He showers with a shampoo he gets from one of his subjects – promised to make him smell like roses to humans.  He hopes it works.

It does.  Ethan stares at him, and then smiles, and when he puts an arm around Ethan, the human does not complain.

The spaghetti is perfect, the Pinot Noir even more so, and the next evening, Ethan comes home with him to the Elder City.


End file.
